Tag: Ocean

The hearing-impaired community can safely navigate cities with apps. Birds have natural GPS, while elephant-nose fish create electric fields to avoid obstacles. Now a Massachusetts-based science centre is taking endangered right whales by the proverbial fin. Smart buoys are being installed off two of America’s busiest shipping ports on the Atlanatic coast to record the mammals’ acoustic signals and...

Seawater provides for nomads and makes lamps shine bright. Miniature wind turbines in the ocean are equally productive. A Swedish company is using waves of 50 cm and higher to generate electricity. For environmental reasons, floating elements are attached to old jetties or breakwaters, and then connected with hydraulic pistons. The biodegradable liquid in the pistons is compressed by...

Implanted visual cells help the retina regenerate. Meanwhile, a Brazilian marine biologist is working on regenerating entire coral landscapes. Her secret? Probiotics. As well as being good for our gut, the living microorganisms make coral more resistant too. After treatment with the helpful bacteria, around 40% of coral reefs were able to withstand the influence of heat, oil and...

Navigation apps help with directions. Lamps tail us as we walk. Now lighted fish nets are here to make commercial fishing more humane and efficient. A research team equipped their gillnets with green LED lights and used them to fish along the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The innovation reduced bycatch - the capture of non-target species - by...

Whales play an important role in climate change. Just like the ‘rainforests of the sea’: coral reefs. Globally these are home to around a third of underwater organisms. A not-for-profit organisation in Papua New Guinea, site of a number of endangered reefs, was recently recognised for its work by the UN’s environmental programme. Using GPS and underwater audio equipment,...

Standing in a darkened room, we perceive someone’s presence without seeing them. The same is true for the elephant-nose fish, whose special organs discharge small voltages into the water around it, creating electric fields. If these electric fields are disturbed by an intruder, electroreceptors on the fish’s skin raise the alarm. By swimming around the intruder, the fish can...

Many of us love exotic fruits or goods, but obtaining them is a logistical challenge. The shipping industry is responsible for 3% of all CO2 emissions globally – more than the entire German economy. In Costa Rica, a young entrepreneur and her team are fusing the old with the new by recreating a traditional schooner in high-tech. Wood and...